Somehow I always know when we're going to have a Big Day Out - it's all the rushing round packing things that Mum does. On Thursday she took me and Max out early for our morning walk, and then rushed around packing things into bags and then into the car when we got back. She explained that Dad had an important meeting with his publisher in somewhere called Deddington, not that we knew where that was, but she seemed to.
It was obviously going to be a long journey, so Max and I settled down for a snoozie in the car. After ages and ages we stopped at some rubbish looking place, and after a lot of faffing about Mum took over driving. It didn't look very inviting there, so I'm glad we didn't get out. But a little while later she stopped at the top of a big hill on something called The Ridgeway, which apparently used to be a road a long, long time ago. She told us that when she was a little girl she used to take her dog called Elsa there. So Mum & Dad had a picnic, me & Max had a ricebone, and we had a little walk. Here's a photo of me & Max on the Ridgeway.
I met a few people to say Hello to up there, but no dogs. It wasn't long before we all got back in the car and drove off again. Sometime later Mum pulled up and Dad got out of the car, and we drove off. Not long after Mum parked and we got out of the car at somewhere called the Oxford Canal. It's a bit like a river, but not so easy to get into, and there are lots of funny long, thin boats on it. This is me & Max investigating one of the boats.
And here's a boat on the canal. You can just make me out on the path in the shadows.
Even though it was more difficult, we did find some places where we could get into the water, which was good, cos it was a really hot day and I needed to cool down. You can see from this photo that it wasn't very easy for us though - there were just small gaps we could squeeze through.
We had a nice long walk, and met a lot of people and other dogs. One of them was this little cockerpoo called Gracie. Her Dad told Mum she was only 14 weeks old.
I enjoyed our walk along the canal. There were lots of new smells to sniff, and things like cows and sheep and ducks and geese along the way (although I couldn't get close to them). We even saw a pheasant, which flew off before we could get to it.
After our walk we got back in the car and went and got Dad, then we drove all the way back to the the canal so that Mum and Dad could have a drink in a pub there. We all sat in the garden, and Mum offered me some food, but I was too hot to eat.
Eventually we set off for the long drive home. Max and I slept nearly all the way. Despite that, I was worn out when we got home. It had been a long day.
